Marvel Auditions ‘Weeds’ Star Mateus Ward for the New Spider-Man

When Sony finally put a bullet in the dying (suffering!) Amazing Spider-Man series and agreed to team up with Marvel Studios to bring Spidey into the Marvel cinematic universe, the internet rejoiced for about two seconds. And then it got all grumpy and weird and slightly racist, but that’s just the internet for you. Well, get ready for everything to grumpier and weirder and slightly more racist because Marvel is supposedly deep in their search for the new Peter Parker right now and one of the names on their list has been revealed.

According to Badass Digest, 16-year old Mateus Ward has auditioned for Spider-Man. It was a top-secret audition held in a house as to avoid prying eyes, a strategy that has apparently failed them. Or did it? For all we know, Marvel has secretly auditioned a dozen different actors this way and this is the first one who leaked. The fact that Ward’s name is out there doesn’t mean that he has the part, but it does give us a few clues about what we can expect from the new Spider-Man.

First, this ensures that the new Spidey will definitely be Peter Parker, not Miles Morales. Even if they do end up casting a black or latino actor, the fact that they are also looking at another white guy ensures that we’ll be getting the classic iteration of the character.

Second, Ward is young. Unlike Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, who were 30-year old guys playing teenagers, he’s actually 16 and he looks it. For the first time, a Spider-Man movie is going to actually let the character look his age and this is a great choice. Imagine a scrawny, awkward teenager standing alongside with Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans. There is no better way to emphasize Spidey’s outsider status.

And that’s all we know (and all we can discern). If Spider-Man is going to cameo in Captain America: Civil War, Marvel had better cast quickly since shooting starts in only two weeks.